that's right for you. >>> mitt romney phoned paul ryan last night to congratulate him on his, quote, fantastic debate showing. how did the president think his running mate fared. >> got to the point of saying that i thought joe biden was terrific tonight. i thought he made a very strong case and, you know, i really think that his pageant for making sure that the economy grows for the middle east came through. >> we will rate last night's performances when inside the actors studio james lipton joins us again in our studio to rate the latest great debate next on "now." [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if we took the nissan altima and reimagined nearly everything in it? gave it greater horsepower and best in class 38 mpg highway... advanced headlights... and zero gravity seats? yeah, that would be cool. ♪ introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ >>> when my friend talks about fissile material, my friend recently in his speech in washington said 30% of the american people are takers and i love

stuff last night, mitt romney coming out and saying president is doubling down on deceit or some version thereof. your assessment. >> we should be clear about what is contested and what is agreed to and what are the various theories of what's wrong. what the problem is, right? what everyone agrees the first story that the american people were told by the administration about what happened in benghazi was wrong. it was not a riot set off by a youtube video that then overran a consulate. >> which they admit. >> everyone agrees. now the question is, did they just get bad intelligence, right? which is what joe biden said last night. this is what intelligence agencies told us. it turned out later it was a preplanned attack. were they essentially manipulating the story because it looked better for them if there was this who could have predicted riot as opposed to an al qaeda cell or al qaeda allied cell in libya pulled off an attack. that's one issue, right? what was channeled up through the chain of command in terms of intelligence reporting that administration knew and when did they

repetitive. governor romney had a good flight. i had a bad night. >> how bad? >> well, it's not the first time i've had a bad night, but i think what's important is that the fundamentals of what this race is about haven't changed. >> is it possible you handed him the election that night? >> no. >> you're going to win? >> yes. >> don't expect joe biden to make the same mistake. the campaign says the veep will come out forcefully against the romney/ryan record and address the quote dishonesties pedalled last week. offering advice for number two the president said -- >> tomorrow night? >> well, i -- you know, i think joe needs to be joe. >> for what it's worth, the president is probably hoping that joe isn't the same joe who occasionally suffers from bouts of acute honesty on a variety of topics like gay marriage. >> he got out a little bit over his skis, but out of generosity, spirit. >> joining us now from chicago, national press secretary for the obama campaign, ben "the thunder" labolt. >> new nickname every time. thanks for having me. >> thunder bolt or thunder. there's not that much se

at skeptical face. >> sure, mitt romney had a fantastic night in the debate last week. he got a bounce out of. but as richard and i were talking about during the break that bounce is disappearing. i mean as stephanie cutter said in the clip that you showed the race is back to where it was before the debate, if not before the conventions. this has been and will continue to be until election day a very close race. and what karl rove is doing there is trying to -- phil i'm sure you'll correct me -- is to rah rah the troops on the republican say saying mitt romney's back and he'll take this as a result of one 90-minute debate after weeks, if not months, of a really horrible campaign. >> i'm sorry, guys i think you're denying reality here. i tweeted the night of the debate that this changed the arc of the election and i agree completely. >> you tweeted that too. >> i tweeted that in the middle of two-thirds of the debate and i believe it. and we've seen it. we've seen it in a couple of key things. this is underreported. it guaranteed the financial success sof tof the romney camp. mit

. >> last night at a fund-raiser in san francisco, president obama hammered governor romney on his shape shifting. >> a few nights ago, suddenly a guy pretending to be mitt romney stood on a stage next to me and said he's changing his plan. he's just going to pretend it doesn't exist. what $5 trillion tax cut? what was being presented wasn't leadership. that's salesmanship. >> when the storm clouds clear, which romney will voters remember? the bone dry severe conservative or the misty massachusetts moderate? the paradox of the mittens, a multi volume extravaganza continues. john heilemann, what do we make, what do you specifically make, of this politico inside dope that says ann and tagg romney have been instrumental in this recalibrated mitt romney? >> i never want to take exception that anybody mike allen and jim vandehei write but maybe there's a straining to find a more biz zanty explanation than is necessarily the case. to question that ann romney was unhawpe with what was happening to her husband as any reasonable wife would be, given the way he was being portrayed and allowing peo

, such great friends. they perform flawlessly night after night. i can't always say the same. >> that was president obama during a los angeles fund-raiser last night acknowledging that his debate performance didn't live up to hollywood standards. governor romney is trying to keep his debate act alive shedding his wooden image for a more human mitt. he told the emotional story of helping a young member of the mormon church who was dying of leukemia. >> through all this david had the kind of strength and courage and maturity you see in so many of our young people, so many of the people in this great nation of ours. i thought of the wonderful slogan later, clear eyes, full heart, can't lose. >> joining the panel now ar ari melver of the nation and nicholas cantasori of the new york times t. yes. >> that's who he is. >> let's talk about the strategy. the president, just forget about wednesday. think about friday. mitt romney forget about friday, remember wednesday. who is selling themselves better this week in your opinion? >> mitt romney is doing a great job shaking the etch-a-sketch. th